The Justice Department’s civil rights division on Monday objected to a new photo ID requirement for voters in Texas because many Hispanic voters lack state-issued identification.

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In regard to Texas, “I cannot conclude that the state has sustained its burden” of showing that the newly enacted law has neither a discriminatory purpose nor effect, Thomas E. Perez, the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a letter to the Texas secretary of state.

Justice Department sources report to Tatler that DOJ lawyers are flabbergasted at the ineptitude of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on a variety of election related issues. The latest example is yesterday’s Fort Worth Star Telegramstory about voter ID. In it, Abbott spokeswoman Lauren Bean says Abbott will defend Voter ID, but only after DOJ objects to the law. The Star Telegram says:

“The Department of Justice’s decision to deny pre-clearance to South Carolina’s Voter ID law is inconsistent with its own previous decisions and flies in the face of U.S. Supreme Court precedent,” Bean said.

The DOJ sources report that Texas seems unaware that the Georgia preclearance was conducted using an old legal standard, no longer in effect. A new standard was passed by Congress in 2006 and Texas’ misplaced reliance on the Georgia Voter ID approval by DOJ is making Texas seem out of touch with the environment they face. They also say there is nothing in Supreme Court rules that are inconsistent with the South Carolina objection, and Texas doesn’t seem to understand that.

AG Abbott could have avoided the DoJ by taking the voter ID law, which is supported by nearly 7 in 10 Texans across all backgrounds, straight to federal court. Now the Lone Star State will have to defend its law before a hostile Justice Department that answers to a president desperate to shore up his numbers among Hispanic voters.

Texas’ voter ID law was passed in the 2011 legislative session, after failing in previous sessions due to Democrats’ efforts to pull out all the stops to block the bill. Democrats brought the 2009 session to a contentious halt over voter ID, and only the massive Republican numbers after their historic win in 2010 allowed the bill to get to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk to be signed into law.

AG Abbott, a probable front runner for governor in Texas should Gov. Perry decide not to seek re-election in 2014, could be hurt by this turn among the state’s grassroots Republicans.

Bryan Preston has been a leading conservative blogger and opinionator since founding his first blog in 2001. Bryan is a military veteran, worked for NASA, was a founding blogger and producer at Hot Air, was producer of the Laura Ingraham Show and, most recently before joining PJM, was Communications Director of the Republican Party of Texas.

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1.
Toby Marie

Greg Abbott is one of the finest AG’s in the country, and while you may not agree with his tactics we Texans will stand behind his efforts. Rather than ripping on our AG, maybe you should be ripping on the DOJ for THEIR actions!

Toby, your loyality is admirable. Had this law been submitted to the United States District Court, instead of Eric Holder, in March of 2011, it would now be effective and in place. Now I don’t see a resolution until 2013. A terrible tragedy that everyone in the know saw coming, and even those who were warned, averted their gaze.

Toby, I agree with your opinion of our AG, but Bryan is correct that Abbott’s strategy missed the mark in this case, and may have made things worse. As David W notes, Abbott seemed to rely on the assumption that this DOJ could somehow be reasoned with and would follow the Rule of Law. He also, as Bryan points out, apparently failed to consider the new Section 5 preclearance standards under the 2006 VRA Reauthorization. Even if the goal was to create standing for a Section 5 challenge, that could have been accomplished without letting DOJ establish evidence that “can be used against us in a court of law”, ie the DOJ objection itself will be offered up as proof in our District Court case.

(Can’t say Abbott didn’t know, because I personally contacted his office a couple of times to make these very points.)

Bryan and the PJ crew all recognize as you do that Holder’s DOJ is our real opposition – it was AG Abbott who inexplicably acted as if he didn’t.

Once again a Republican appears to be totally unaware of what the Democrats true intentions. Will they ever ever think about what they are doing? Will they ever realize that no matter how much sense something makes, if it goes against the “narrative” the Democrats will be against it. Even if 99.99% of the citizens support it? Geez when will they ever learn.

I’ll bring my thought over to this thread:
I would love to see Abbot completely flummox the DoJ by agreeing that the need for a state ID is a significant burden and argue that NO ONE should be able to require an ID. Including police at a traffic stop, the TSA, your bank, when you cash a check, when you get a background check – or to attend a speech given by Eric Holder! Make them defend their rule book.

This is the effect of massive immigration from the Third World: they advocate by race, accuse every move by others that in any way checks their desires as racist and with the encouragement of a DOJ that is nothing more than a subsidiary of the NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center and voila!

Final score: whites who don’t really care about such things as always racist no matter what.
minorities obsessed with the racism they claim to have no interest in win no matter how wrong.

Republican or Democrat: they keep coming and coming and the more they come the more they cannot be stopped. It’s a perfect trap and we are undone because that crucial tipping point has already been passed.

Think about the concept of the greater good and where you really see it enacted in this world and where you never see it enacted and enjoy the massive hypocrisy of the political Left and the Third World.

The DOJ and Holder need to cut the lies, we in Tennessee have always had to show photo ID to vote! It isn’t a problem for the public, it is only a problem for those who are illegals and those attempting voter fraud.

Somehow, the chorus of “we told you so” from Bryan, J. Christian and TxTea is not very satisfying to PJ Media regulars who are not part of the “in-group”! The problem is not Greg Abbott; the problem is Eric Holder. This is just the latest example. When the Federal Courts start ruling against Holder and hold him in contempt when he doesn’t fulfull his constitutional responsibilities, I will believe that a different approach might have made a difference. Until then, it appears that Holder will continue to do exactly what he and Obama intend to do, and dare anyone to stop them!

When the Federal Courts start ruling against Holder and hold him in contempt when he doesn’t fulfull his constitutional responsibilities

That’s about the time pigs sprout wings and fly. Hibernation by the Tx AG is not an excuse for failing to notice the corruption in the Federal DOJ, and for failing to take an alternate route around DOJ to get the Voter ID squared with the Feds.